Working with time zones

Table of contents

Time zone based date and time are used and processed throughout every component of Cloud Cruiser. The original date-time based usage data comes from various sources, including collectors, and are assumed to have Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) time zone by default.

Date-time conversion utility

This usage data is fed to jobs for processing through a series of batch steps, generating several intermediate CC Record ( .ccr ) files. Cloud Cruiser’s batch processing module has a date-time conversion utility that, if provided in the job, converts the usage date-time from the source time zone to UTC before usage data is fed into the job steps for processing.

The final resulting usage and charging data is loaded into the database’s summary and detail tables with all records based on the UTC calendar.

Setting the server time zone

The Cloud Cruiser application uses the server time zone to represent and process date/time in various service calls, including the emails, alerts, and load track management. You can set the server time zone in Cloud Cruiser and store it in the database’s configuration table. When the Cloud Cruiser server restarts, it can read the stored server time zone from the database.

To change the time zone for the server from the default UTC time, go to the System Configuration page ( Administration > Configuration - System ) and use the Server Time Zone drop-down menu to select a different time zone for the server.

NOTE: If there are existing dates in the database, changing the server time zone will be invalid. Some of the existing processed data in the database will be based on the old server time zone. Cloud Cruiser recommends changing the server time zone before any data loaded to the database, or clean the database to change the server time zone and then reload the data after the change.

Time stamping log files with the system time zone

The system time zone is the time zone of the machine where the Cloud Cruiser server is running. The timestamps in the server logs and the job logging files are all based on the system time zone.